The Changing Tide Of Remembrance
by Verde Armaiolo Da Sabbia
Summary: After Gaea's Death, everyone seems to have gotten over Leo's death except for Leo. Can he move on from his fears? (One-shot)


Six mournful figures slowly formed around a single slab of Celestial Bronze outlined in Imperial Gold. The marker overlooked Mount Vesuvius, an explosive mountain overlooking the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The metal was simple in text yet intricate in design with sweeping bolts of metal and fire outlayed throughout.

Leo Valdez

1999-2015

A Spark That Shall Never Be Extinguished

A slim young man knelt in front of the grave and mumbled a few words. A larger Chinese teenager joined him, and soon all but one of the group surrounded it. Percy Jackson spoke through a harsh lump in his throat. "He'd hate to see us like this. It's Leo for Zeus' sake. Anyone have a firecracker for him?" Jason Grace rose and drew six M-80 fireworks from a satchel at his side. The Son of Jupiter passed the explosives out and as one the group set them around the grave. The took turns remembering him, saying a few words and then setting off the fireworks with a massive BOOM. "To Leo! The closest to perfect opposite of Narcissus I've seen yet," Annabeth Chase smiled, adding "The only boy able to rival a daughter of Athena in ingenuity." "The hottest dude this side of Hades, Leo Mother-effin' Valdez!" The cries continued into the night. Laughter, stories and adventures were traded amongst the survivors of the Prophetic Six. They remembered their friend as he would've seen fit, a powerful young demigod taken long before his time.

The shadows stretched as time passed, two solemn figures watching the six from within. Nico di Angelo, Prince of Hades stood side by side with Leo Valdez. "I'm not sure what you expected. They didn't know you had the apparatus." Leo nodded, a rare frown gracing his grease covered face. "I was expecting honesty out of them, y'know? I was always the loner dude. Perc has Annabeth, Jason and Piper are together, everyone's paired off. I was just goofy Leo." Nico shook his head. "You were always so much more than that. You are the reason they were able to complete the prophecy. You built the _Argos II,_ you made peace between Greeks and Romans. That's never happened before.

"Leo Valdez, your single fault has always seemed to be that of your father's. You do not trust yourself. This cloud of judgement and imagined belittlement is all in your head. Long ago I thought the same. When my sister died I too felt powerless. Hades wasn't exactly the easiest person to be around and Bianca left a void that I still haven't filled. But people love you just as much, if not more, than they loved me. Our quests demanded a unified force, the sons and daughters of Olympus coming together to fight the monsters and villains. That damn lightning bolt changed all of our lives for the better. This grand quest of yours provided an opportunity to prove the worth of the Hephaestus clan. No daughter of Athena can build a bronze dragon, and I don't trust Percy with a wrench. That is unique to you,"

His soliloquy over, Nico di Angelo slipped back into the darkness, leaving the Hispanic Artificer to mull over what exactly he should do. He had always livrf in the shadows of his more prominent compatriots. What was he to the sons of the Big Three? Or a daughter of Athena or Aphrodite? It's an imposing situation to be in and he isn't sure how to react. Leo sighs, and slips into the shadow after Nico. 'One of these days,' he thinks to himself. 'One of these days I'll work up the courage to talk to them. But that day is not today'.

Over the next several weeks statues made of solid bronze begin to appear across America, Greece, and Italy. First was the statue of the girl on Wall Street. Then abstract work in Sparta and Naples. At each figure laid a single blacksmith's hammer, the only identifying mark that could have revealed his identity. It was busy work for Leo, nothing like the Argos II's complicated machinations and mechanisms. But it allowed him to show appreciation to the Six, and served as a trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow, if they wished. Leo doubted that they would do anything. They might say to his grave that they cared but did it show in their actions? Walls were often built to see if people cared enough to bring them down. Leo's wall was that of imagined death, easily rended if Percy would only talk to Nico. But time marched on, with the Six slowly floating away from each other.

Six months after Leo Valdez's death, a seashell appeared at his door step. He had taken refuge in New York, feeling comfort only in the shadow of Olympus itself, his father's work open for all to see through the Mist. Leo opened his door, bending down to investigate the shell. Inside was a note in Ancient Greek, in script much too neat to be Percy's handwriting.

"Ἀποθνήσκω" - "Come Home"


End file.
